Tom Hardy on Dark Knight: 'I don't want to compete with Heath Ledger'

Tom Hardy has spoken about his role in The Dark Knight Rises, claiming that he does not want to be pitted against Heath Ledger.

Hardy, who plays bulked-up villain Bane in the upcoming third installment, explained that he wasn't apprehensive about following in the footsteps of Ledger's critically-lauded performance in The Dark Knight.

"That would be putting myself in a competition with somebody who's clearly brilliant," Hardy told Hitfix, "and it's not a question of whose talent is greater or whose work is greater.

"It's just trying to be the best that we can be. I'm not trying to be better than somebody else.

"What he did was amazing, that's that. I've got a part I've got to play, and I want to play my part."

Dark Knight Rises producer Emma Thomas explained that rather than trying to create a villain in the same vein as Ledger's Joker, she, director-writer Christopher Nolan and writer Jonathan Nolan opted to go in a different direction.

"We were obviously never going to revisit the Joker," Thomas said, "and you don't want to be trying to chase that.

"It's fun to have a very different sort of villain in this, and a different sort of challenge for Batman to meet, much more physical. It's almost a more even match in some ways, you know, in a physical sense."